Στοχασμοί

by Oscar Wilde

[...] Η κριτική, όπως ελπίζω πως θα καταφέρω κι εγώ να τονίσω κάποια μέρα, κάνει τη σκέψη υπέροχο εργαλείο. Εμείς, με το εκπαιδευτικό μας σύστημα, έχουμε φορτώσει τη μνήμη με πλήθος γεγονότων ασύνδετων μεταξύ τους κι αγωνιζόμαστε φιλόπονα να μεταδώσουμε τη γνώση που κατακτήσαμε με κόπο. Διδάσκουμε στους ανθρώπους πώς να θυμούνται, μα δεν τους διδάσκουμε ποτέ πώς να αναπτύσσοντα. Δεν μας πέρασε ποτέ από το μυαλό να προσπαθήσουμε ν' αναπτύξουμε τη σκέψη έτσι ώστε ν' αποκτήσει μια λεπτότερη ικανότητα παρατήρησης και αντίληψης. Οι αρχαίοι Έλληνες το έκαναν πράξη, κι όταν ερχόμαστε σ' επαφή με την αρχαιοελληνική κριτική διανόηση, δεν μπορούμε παρά να συνειδητοποιήσουμε ότι ενώ τα θέματά μας είναι από κάθε άποψη ευρύτερα και πιο πολύμορφα από τα δικά τους, η δική τους μέθοδος εξακολουθεί να είναι η μόνη με την οποία τα θέματα αυτά μπορούν να ερμηνευτούν. Η Αγγλία έχει πετύχει ένα πράγμα: επινόησε και καθιέρωσε την κοινή γνώμη κάτι που αποτελεί μια προσπάθεια να οργανωθεί η άγνοια της κοινωνίας και να εξυψωθεί στην περίοπτη θέση μιας φυσικής δύναμης. Η Σοφία όμως έμενε πάντα κρυμμένη. Αν το θεωρήσουμε όργανο σκέψης, ο αγγλικός νους είναι τραχύς και υπανάπτυκτος. Το μόνο που μπορεί να τον εξαγνίσει είναι η ανάπτυξη του κριτικού ενστίκτου [...]

Απο το «Ο κριτικό ως καλλιτέχνης»

Στο βιβλίο αυτό:
- Η άνοδος της ιστορικής κριτικής
- Η αλήθεια των προσωπείων
- Η παρακμή του ψεύδους
- Πένα, πινέλο και δηλητήριο
- Το πορτπέτο του κύριου W.H.
- Η ψυχή του ανθρώπου κάτω απο τον σοσιαλισμό
- Ο κριτικός ως καλλιτέχνης
- Η περίπτωση του δεσμοφύλακα Μάρτιν: κάποιες βαρβαρότητες απ' τη ζωή στις φυλακές
- Για την αναμόρφωση των φυλακών

Genres: Classics, Fiction

479 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2003

About the author

Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts.
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.

Reviews

[Fiorinda Autieri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non amo i racconti, ma volevo capire se Wilde facesse per me, la risposta è decisamente si!

[gayos · Rating 4 out of 5]

favole per adulti con belle morali

[Marta Dieffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ho ascoltato i Racconti di Oscar Wilde su Audible e quelli che mancavano, li ho letti in digitale. Poi mi sono accorta di quante versioni avevo in cartaceo.

In ogni edizione ne mancano sempre diversi, infatti con il #gdldeldandy ne abbiamo ancora qualcuno da recuperare, dopo questi.

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Tra i racconti, misti con fiabe e favole, scopriamo un Wilde diverso. Molte di queste piccole opere sono state scritte proprio per essere raccontate ai suoi figli.

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Non manca mai la sua sagacia, il suo senso critico e molta ironia, quest'ultima, specie ne Il fantasma di Canterville.

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Ho trovato ogni racconto molto interessante, alcuni divertenti, alcuni anche toccanti. Qualcuno con una morale, altri no ma tutti, in un modo o nell'altro, fanno riflettere.

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Ho adorato Il fantasma di Canterville, L'usignolo e la rosa, Il principe felice e Il Ritratto di Mr. W. H.

Quest'ultimo ve lo consiglio se siete amanti di Shakespeare, perché è un racconto che nasconde molto altro. Non un semplice racconto.

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Mi sono piaciuti tutti, davvero tanto. Sono molto contenta di aver recuperato queste perle, grazie al gruppo di lettura.

[Eleni Traga · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.8

Είναι ειλικρινά ένας θησαυρός. Ο συγγραφέας αποτυπώνει όλους τους προβληματισμούς γύρω από τις τέχνες την πολιτική . Σύγχρονους αλλά και παλιούς προβληματισμούς . Με λίγα λόγια ένα διαχρονικό βιβλίο που πρέπει να έχετε στη βιβλιοθήκη σας αν θέλετε να δείτε το κόσμο λίγο διαφορετικά. Λίγο μέσα από τα μάτια του .

Ο μόνος λόγος που δεν βάζω ατόφιο 5 αστέρια είναι γιατί πολλά από τα πράγματα που λέει πρέπει να τα διαβάσεις και 2 και 3 φορές ώστε να τα καταλάβεις . Αλλά αυτή δεν είναι η μαγεία της τέχνης ; Του προβληματισμού; Της φιλοσοφίας ;

Θα πάρω και άλλα βιβλία του σίγουρα και το προτείνω ανεπιφύλακτα.!!

[Levan]

I am definitely not the intended audience for this book, so it wouldn’t be fair for me to rate it. At times, I found it rather boring. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t find value in reading it. I did appreciate the idea that art shouldn’t always represent reality. In fact, it’s interesting to consider that life imitates art, rather than the other way around.

[Searchingthemeaningoflife Greece · Rating 5 out of 5]

!!!!! https://searchingthemeaningoflife.wor...
[...]Είναι ωστόσο ευτύχημα για μας, που η φύση είναι ατελής. Γιατί αλλιώς δε θα ‘χαμε καθόλου Τέχνη.[...]

[...]Τα πράγματα υπάρχουν γιατί τα βλέπουμε. Κι αυτό που βλέπουμε και που το βλέπουμε εξαρτάται από τις τέχνες που μας έχουν επηρεάσει.[...]

[...]Η αμαρτία οφείλει να ‘ναι πάντοτε μοναχική, χωρίς συνενόχους.[...]

[...]Με την φιλοπεριέργειά της, η Αμαρτία, αυξάνει την εμπειρία του ανθρώπινου γένους.[...]

[...]Από τη φαντασία μπορεί κανείς να προσφύγει στο γεγονός. Δεν υπάρχει όμως καμία προσφυγή από την ψυχή.[...]

[...]Α! μα είναι τόσο εύκολο να προσηλυτίζεις τους άλλους. Το δύσκολο είναι να προσηλυτίσεις τον εαυτό σου.[...]

[...]Για τον αληθινό ποιητή μια μονάχα μουσική μέθοδος υπάρχει - η δική του.[...]

[...]Κι ακριβώς όπως τα δέντρα και τα φυτα αναπτύσσονται ενώ ο αγρότης κοιμάται, έτσι κι η ανθρωπότητα θα διασκεδάζει και θα απολαμβάνει πολιτισμένα τον ελεύθερο χρόνο της-πράγμα που είναι κι ο σκοπός του ανθρώπου- ή θα φτιάχνει όμορφα πράγματα, ή θα διαβάζει όμορφα βιβλία, ή απλώς θα παρατηρεί τον
κόσμο με θαυμασμό κι απόλαυση, ενώ οι μηχανές θα κάνουν όλες τις απαραίτητες και δυσάρεστες δουλειές. Το γεγονός είναι ότι ο σύγχρονος πολιτισμός έχει ανάγκη από σκλάβους. Οι αρχαίοι Έλληνες είχαν δίκιο στο θέμα αυτό. [...]

[Tea Susca · Rating 5 out of 5]

E' straordinario il modo in cui un autore possa emozionarci in questo modo. e mi fa piacere vedere che Wilde riesce ancora a smuovere gli animi.
si sta parlando del mio autore prediletto, colui che mi ha iniziato alla lettura tempo fa con "il ritratto di Dorian Gray". ne "il fantasma di Canterville" ciò che fa pensare è appunto l'accostamento ironia-serietà, come si è passati velocemente da un'attitudine all'altra senza accorgersene. Secondo me un po' tutti dovrebbero leggere questi racconti, magari i più adulti. senza dubbio apre la mente, insegnando qualcosa senza cadere nel moralismo. perchè, come afferma lui stesso nella prefazione del Dorian Gray, "Non esistono libri morali o immorali. I libri sono scritti bene o scritti male. Questo è tutto."

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

NB- I was just reading Dorian Gray- not the whole book of short stories.

I really enjoyed Dorian Gray. I had watched the film beforehand, and had been wanting to read something by Oscar Wilde for some time. It was eloquent, witty and thoughtful, with a lot of themes that seemed to me quite translatable to modern day. There are definitely a lot of people today whose focus on their image could be addressed with this poignant, short account of how beauty and youth truly are not everything.

Also, I loved the character of Henry/ Harry, with his wistful views on life, art and women. He cracked me up with how completely pompous he was.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ad essere sincera, ho solo letto i racconti che preferisco... e che rileggerei in continuazione (Il fantasma di Canterville e il delitto di Lord Arthur Savile) ma questa versione contiene molti altri interessantissimi pezzi come "Il gigante egoista", "la sfinge senza segreti" o "il principe felice". L'ho acquistato in ricordo del periodo liceale in cui avevo scoperto questo grandioso autore. Il mio preferito comunque, scusate la banalità, resta sempre il Ritratto di Dorian Gray.

[Lawrence Salani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read "The Picture of Dorian Gray" previously and enjoyed the writing style and plot. When I found this book at a garage sale, I thought I knew what to expect. However, the short stories are fantastic. The stories are full of feeling and the writing style beautiful. This old book will be a treasure on my bookshelf.

[Andrea Aprile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Letti in italiano.

[Ele Bozzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Wild is always a good time.
Me everytime I start a new story: